Ad Avis
Ad Avis (aka Adavis) is an evil wizard of immense power, and the main antagonist in the second and fourth installments of the series. Power-hungry and manipulative, Ad Avis has spent decades in preparation for his takeover of Gloriana, and he shall not allow these efforts to pass in vain. He is capable of a wide array of magical abilities from the animation of the elements to mind-control and subversion of his enemies. Background Ad Avis had always been an evil meglomaniac who wanted to rule the world. He hated women, believed they should all be locked away in harems. He studied magic, and soon he entered the Wizard's Institute of Technocery and obtained the rank of Wizard, but he desired greater knowledge and power. Around this time he learned about the prophecy concerning the ancient Marid Iblis but needed more power before he would be ready to summon it. Therefore he sought the great necromancer, the Dark Master in the land of SilmariaQFG4 Hintbook, 76, to learn forbidden spells and dark magic.QFG4 Hintbook, 44 It was to his horror that he discovered that the Dark Master was a woman, Katrina; he was quite appalled by the fact. Moreover she was a more powerful wizard than he, and though she taught him many things over the years he studied under her eventually he could not stand to be subordinate to her. He challenged her to a duel and lost. She bound him to her will, and made him her servant for fifty years until she grew bored with and turned him loose.Katrina (QFG4): "He came to me many years ago to learn from one called the 'Dark Master.' What he didn't know was the Dark Master was a woman; he was quite appalled by the fact. He challenged me to a magical duel and lost. I made him my servant for fifty years until I grew bored with him and turned him loose. But I had bitten him, and he knew that on his death he would rise again as a Vampire under my command. He has served me since the night you defeated him." Ad Avis had spent most of his time following this learning the magic that controls men's minds and waiting for a fool to fulfill the prophecy for him. In the end he had served the Dark Master for fifty to seventy years total.Ad Avis (QFG2): "Do you know how long I have awaited this moment? Seventy years! Seventy years I have served the Dark Master while watching for the stars to align. Seventy years I have spent learning the magic that controls men's minds and waiting for a fool to fulfill the prophecy for me.", "No! After 70 years, No!" He fled from her to Shapeir, a land close to his home, but not before she gave him the "gift" of "Life Eternal after Death" by biting him and forcing him to drink her own blood.QFG4 Hintbook, 44-45 He travelled to Raseir where he pulled his power play, becoming Vizier, and took over the city, hoping to gain enough power that he would never die and have to serve Katrina. He knew from research that the time would soon be right to release the terrible Marid Iblis, and that he needed a Hero, to find Iblis in the Forbidden City. One year before the prophecy was to be fulfilled, he deposed the Emir of Raseir (transforming him into a Saurus) and put the Emir's weak, cowardly brother on the throne as his puppet. He installed his loyal henchman, Khaveen, as captain of the city guard. Not long afterward, he devastated Raseir by drying up its magical fountain, while Khaveen drove out most of the resident Katta. Ad Avis had the new Emir impose open slavery and forced all the women to wear veils and remain indoors. When the Sultan of Shapier sent an army to investigate, a fierce sand storm prevented them from reaching the city. The Sultan wisely guessed the storm was deliberate and magical and chose not to return, fearing for the lives of his brave men. Thus he attacked Shapeir, knowing that a hero would soon arrive due to the prophecy. This hero was the one to save Shapeir, and although Ad Avis used and betrayed him, he finally sent him falling to his doom. He called out to the Dark master for help, and the Dark master teleported his body to Mordavia. He rose from death a Nosferatu, a Vampire again enslaved to the Dark Master. Ad Avis wanted revenge. He hated the Hero, but despised the Dark Master even more. He would do anything in his power to destroy her, but because he is a Vampire Slave, he couldn't harm her unless she harmed him first. Thus he plotted to use the Hero against her, and then destroy them both.QFG4 Hintbook, 444 Ad Avis made two attempts to kill his master and break free; first, when the Hero was captured by Katrina and imprisoned within Castle Borgov, Ad Avis made his escape deliberately easy and left a stake and hammer within reach of the Hero, knowing that the way out of the castle passed through Katrina's personal chambers and hoping the Hero would kill her. The Hero, however, did not take the bait, either seeing through the ruse or caring too much for Katrina to harm her. Later, when the ritual to summon Avoozl was nearing completion, Ad Avis attacked the hero, declaring him no longer nessecary, in a calculated bid to stir up Katrina's love for him. He succeeded: Katrina attacked Ad Avis, freeing him from his slavery. Ad Avis sent a second spell towards the Hero and as Katrina blocked it she was taken by Avoozl into total darkness. Unfortunately for Ad Avis the hero outsmarted him again by telling him the Ultimate Joke and then finishing him off once and for all while he was distracted using the power of Erana's staff. Events in the Series Efforts to Summon Iblis By the beginning of Trial by Fire, Rasier has become almost completely deserted. Those who remain live under the iron grip of Khaveen and his ruthless guards. Ad Avis remains largely out of sight, not wanting to draw the attention of other spellcasters in the world. He uses his immense powers to create a magical shroud over Rasier, preventing any magic user from using their abilities to see the city from afar. It is implied he does not allow anyone who even knows his name to remain free long. He has also mastered the ability to turn humans into animals and other fantastic creatures. In addition to the Emir, he transforms his apprentice, Al Scurva, into a strange creature and leaves him to die in a cage in the desert. When the Hero restores Al Scurva, Ad Avis becomes truly aware of the Hero. A few days after arriving in Raseir, Ad Avis has the hero arrested after a couple of days. When the Hero quickly escapes Khaveen's dungeon, Ad Avis finds him in the city and hypnotizes him into serving his will. Going out to the Forbidden City of Suleiman, Ad Avis forces the Hero to enter the lost city and retrieve the statue that contains the evil Djinn Iblis. Ad Avis leaves the Hero to die in the city once he has Iblis, but unfortunately did not properly read the prophecy he sought to take advantage of. He dies when the Hero knocks him from a tower where he is attempting to summon the demon Iblis. Supposed Death In Quest for Glory III: Wages of War during an introductory flashback, Aziza gives the chilling news that Ad Avis' body was never found after his death. She also notes that his death discharged an enormous amount of unstable magical energy, the shockwave of which could be felt by powerful magic users worldwide. It is suggested by Rakeesh that this release actually widened the World Gate in Tarna, allowing a Demon Wizard to enter Gloriana and set into motion the events of the game. At the very end of Wages of War, as the hero stands triumphant alongside his allies, he is swept away by an all-encompassing field of dark magic. In a cliffhangar scene for Shadows of Darkness, Ad Avis and his robed master are seen watching the hero menacingly through a crystal ball. Attempted Revenge In the fourth game, Ad Avis has been resurrected as a vampire in Mordavia. The Hero learns that, years ago, Katrina defeated Ad Avis in a duel and then bit him. Ad Avis was infected by her vampire bite, and so, after he was killed by the Hero, he became a nosferatu in Katrina's service. Ad Avis cannot harm Katrina unless she harms him first, since he is in effect her vampire descendant. Katrina seeks to summon the Hero as part of her bid to awaken a Dark One, Avoozl, a powerful entity that will plunge the world into eternal darkness (thus relieving them of the need to retreat to their coffins during the day). Unfortunately, due to the powerful influence of the Dark One's Cave in Mordavia, the Hero does not arrive in their spell circle but rather in the Cave itself. Katrina decides to manipulate the Hero, recognizing that he may need his free will to help her retrieve the rituals needed to awaken Avoozl. Ad Avis constantly argues with her, insisting that the Hero cannot be trusted and that he will have his revenge on them both. He unsuccessfully tries to trick the Hero into killing Katrina. During the ceremony to summon Avoozl, Ad Avis (aware of Katrina's feelings for the Hero) attacks the hero in a calculated attempt to destroy both his enemies; Katrina then attacks Ad Avis and allows him to engage her in battle. Ad Avis goads Katrina into sacrificing herself by putting herself between the Hero and Ad Avis, resulting in her death by Avoozl. However, his arrogance proves his undoing and the Hero, with the help of Erana's Staff, finishes him once and for all. Personality and traits Ad Avis is depicted as a very powerful wizard in both of his appearances. In the second game, he creates four elementals to attack the city of Shapier; he also employs a spell that can transform people into a creature that reflects their inner soul. In both games, he possesses a hypnotic gaze. He is also portrayed as a misogynist who deeply resents Katrina's domination. Mayzun, a character in the second game, describes him as having a "snake's eyes" and says he hates "all women." As a vampire, his disposition was ever more sour, and he is reviled by anyone he meets, including the humble Gatekeeper and the Goon Guards in the Castle Borgov. Without a doubt, Ad Avis is perhaps one of the most sinister and self-centered antagonists in the entire series. Whereas characters such as Baba Yaga and Katrina have their own multi-faceted personalities, Ad Avis is shown to be incredibly power hungry and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. In Shadows of Darkness, sickened by what he has become, Ad Avis is hell-bent on achieving revenge on the Hero for killing him previously - he becomes one of the most sinister and hateful characters in the entire series, and with his vast reserve of powers, perhaps the closest thing to true evil, unlike any foe faced by the Hero before. He claims to be a follower of the Prophet and Allah but it is unclear if this is true or not, as he seems more interested in his own power than being concerned with religion. Besides the fact that he was trying to release Iblis which is Allah's nemesis.Ad Avis (Hoyle 3):"Allah favors me - I have won the game!", "By the beard of the Prophet! You have won!" More than likely his claims to follow Allah are just honeyed words. Deaths QFG2 QFG4 *Ad Avis is speared through the heart by a thrown spear (from a transformed Erana's staff) , his body disappears possibly into the spear (Fighter/Paladin). *Ad Avis is pulled into Chaos universe by one of Avoozl's tendrils by proximity of magic spell (from Erana's Summoned Staff). (Wizard/Magic User). *Ad Avis is killed by a acrobatic thief using a wooden stake to the heart (from a transformed Erana's staff). His body disappears possibly into the spear. Titles *Wizard of the Southern Sands *Enchanter of Elements *The Enchanter *Dark One *Dark Man *Elemental's Master *Dark MasterPyotr (QFG4):You serve two Dark Masters. Their goal is greater Darkness.", "But beware your own Dark Masters, for they will bring you sorrow." *Adavis See also *Ad Avis (Hoyle 3) Behind the scenes *He is named in honor of Sierra's creative director Bill Davis. *He has the nickname, the Dark OneQFG2, similar to Avoozl. *He is known as Adavis in Hoyle 3, but also in the parser in QFG2. QFG2 says that Ad Avis served Katrina for seventy years, and QFG4 says that Ad Avis served Katrina for only 50 years. Katrina in QFG4 states that Ad Avis served her 50 years, until she grew bored of him, it implies that she met him shortly before she enslaved him, as he challenged her for being women. This may simply be a retcon, however. It may be possible to interpret that Ad Avis met the Dark Master and joined her 70 years ago, around the time he learned about Iblis for the first time (then left 50 years later). Although that would still be a problem as he technically wasn't serving her during last twenty years period, and it took him a long while before he finally made it to Raseir and became Vizier. However, the QFG4 Hintbook, and in-game suggests that Ad Avis headed to and over Raseir about the same time he was released from Katrina to prepare for coming Iblis. Also according to information in QFG1EGA and QFG2 Ad Avis may have entered Raseir between 1-3 years before QFG2 which would affect the date (Shameen says they moved away from Raseir three years before QFG1, in QFG2 they say they left around the time things were turning bad in Raseir, and Ferrari says he moved into Raseir one and half years before QFG2 as the situation was right for his line of work, finally the Emir disappeared one year before QFG2 and Ad Avis took control). Likewise Dahab Khalis and the Katta in QFG5 suggest that things were bad in Raseir for several years. Another possibility is that Ad Avis studied and served under the Dark Master for twenty years under his own free will, then challenged Katrina, at which point he was enslaved, and forced to serve her without choice for another 50 years. Although this would ignore some of the sources that suggest that Ad Avis was forced to be her servant shortly after he met her. These details and interpretations would affect the order of some of the events. Many of the rules for women that Ad Avis instituted in Raseir such as "forbidding a man to speak to a woman unless she is his mother, daughter, or wife" or "mother, wife, or slave" are based on Islamic sharia practices. Corey Cole was rotoscoped to make Ad Avis spell casting animations. References Category:Characters (Hoyle 3) Category:Villains Category:Vampires Category:Wizards Category:Characters (QFG2) Category:Characters (QFG3) Category:Characters (QFG4) Category:Sorcerers Category:Magicians Category:Dark Masters Category:Enchanters Category:Dark Ones